Conventionally, a remote operation control system is known. This remote operation control system is comprised of controlled devices, such as a vehicle and an in-vehicle apparatus, a center, and a portable terminal carried by the user. In accordance with the user's input operation on the portable terminal, the remote operation control system establishes connection of the portable terminal, the center, and the controlled devices through a network, and the controlled devices at a remote place are operated by a remote control. For example, see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-296860.
In the above-mentioned system, if the contents of remote operation of the controlled devices are specified by the user on the portable terminal, those specified contents of remote operation are transmitted from the portable terminal to the center through the network connection, and the contents of remote operation are transmitted from the center to the controlled devices through the network connection And the controlled devices are remotely driven according to the transmitted contents of remote operation.
By the way, the operation of the portable terminal is performed, in order to carry out the remote operation of the controlled devices, by the user at a remote place where the user cannot visually recognize the vehicle. In many cases, the user has not grasped exactly whether the vehicle is in a suitable state for performing the remote operation of the controlled devices. If the remote operation of the controlled devices is actually performed when the vehicle is not in a suitable state, a problem impairing the safety of the vehicle may arise.
In this respect, in the above-mentioned system, the checking as to whether the vehicle is in a suitable state for performing the remote operation when performing remote operation of the controlled devices is not taken into consideration. For this reason, the above-mentioned system has a possibility that the problem impairing the safety of the vehicle may arise.